Below is an excerpt from Ayse Birsel’s recent article in Inc. about the Cooper Hewitt National Design Awards. Click here to read the full article.
The nation’s highest honors, now in its 19th year, are often called the Oscars of design, where entries are nominated and juried by peers. As a former jury member I wondered the message this year’s awards would collectively send. After all, it is a jury’s unwritten rule to use the winning entries to articulate what constitutes our highest values around a topic at a given time. The National Design Awards’ rigorous process of recognizing the best also takes the pulse on what matters in design in America today.
Looking at the winners with that perspective two messages emerge:
1. Design is a “diverse field”.
2. Design is a “healthy field”.